Are you a good witch or a bad witch?

Once upon a time there was a girl who was different from a lot of people she knew. Now we all know that is how the stories usually go. Mine is a bit different. Since an early age, I never really fit into any type of box. Not just my appearance, but the way I thought about things. Religion being one of those things. Now I know what you are going to say, 'Another person trying to convert people'. Yeah, that's not me. I just wanted to share my experience on how I became a Wiccan who practices witchcraft. Before you ask, yes there is a difference. Wicca is a religion. Mostly it is one motto, "Harm none, Do what ye will". Kind of like the Hippocratic Oath that doctors take. Wiccans believe in using the energy of the elements: Fire, Earth, Air, Water and Spirit. The five points of the Pentacle. Yes Pentacle. Pentagrams are upside down and used mostly by Satanist to scare people. I never could understand the ardent faith that some people have with organized religions. I have read all of the Bible, though it has been sometime since I did, and I have researched other religions too. None of those religions ever made me feel faith. That is until I was introduced into Wicca. All my life weird stuff has happened. From seeing or hearing ghost to thinking something was going to happen and it actually happen. I have written before about dreams and experiences I have had. Some of it happened even before I could give it a name. Now I am a practicing Wicca for the past 27 years. At times, I have questioned my faith. I think there is always a time in which your faith comes into question. How much do you believe? How much faith in the powers that be do you have? During one of these times, I found Wicca. I'm a Gen X child. So naturally my generation wanted to explore new ideas. A friend of mine began reading about Wicca and the craft. Partially because we were inspired by the movie The Craft. I know it sounds ridiculous but, hear me out. It was a bit of an eye-opening experience. I started dabbling a bit with my abilities. One of the things I was always good at is my gut feeling about people. I call it my traffic light. People I feel I can trust are green. People to stay away from are red. People who fall in between are yellow. Those are the people you really have to be around more to get a better feeling for. Yes, I am right 9/10 times. There are only a few times when I can say I was wrong. Mostly with the yellow people. A gut feeling is more of your internal alarm system. Hence the reason how I found Wicca. No other religions could explain the way I was feeling, the things I was experiencing. Then a friend of mine told me about reading a book about Wicca. She lent it to me, and I began to explore. Everything I was going through began to click into place. The way I was thinking and what I was thinking all started making sense. Now Witchcraft is another thing that I began to experiment with. Using simple spells along with my will (intent) behind it. I began to notice that I was making things happen. There was never a question or doubt in my mind about either Wicca or Witchcraft. The only doubt that ever plagued me at the time was whether I was doing the right thing. Yes, I did dabble in the darker side of the Craft as well. To experience both sides leaves one with a respect for the Craft that you hadn't before. To really know the highs and lows of the Craft is to test both sides. That is where true faith lies. To know you can help or hinder anything in your life. That changes a person. Your level of respect changes your perception of the Religion and the Craft.

What can someone reading this take from my experience? There will always be highs and lows. Your faith in your abilities and the powers above will be tested in ways you could never expect. Knowing what I know now my views of Wicca and Witchcraft have changed during the years. Would I change anything I did? No, because it is a lesson. A lesson to know when to do something for the benefit for myself or for the benefit of others. There is a time to be selfish and a time to be selfless. All in all, it is the natural order of things. All the elements prove there are two sides to everything. Water can nourish us, yet a hurricane can destroy everything in its path. Fire warms us from the cold of winter yet can strip a forest in two hours. Wind blows pollen around to help plants grow, but a tornado can rip apart a community within minutes. Earth is the mother. She feeds us and gives us everything we need to survive. Yet it can turn to mud or lava and bury everything in its way. The spirit is the one where the two sides are good and evil. It all depends on which one you feed. Do you wish to be good? Helping people with no thought to yourself. Or do you only do for you? Therein lies the eternal question. Are you a good witch or a bad witch?